Re: Weight loss was: Racoon, anyone?

[Guest guest]

,

> , doing the 18/6 fast/eat IF worked quite well for me, as I

> lost almost 20 pounds over 5 months from July to December. My weight

> has stabilized around 203 pounds over the last month, but I didn't

> stick to the 18/6 over the holidays.

Congratulations! That fantastic! You owe me for that tip big time <weg>

> I'm 6'1 " , so that's not too bad

> of a weight, considering that I exercise daily (walk and jog) and have

> a fairly good muscle mass from the frequent exercise.

Do you do any weight bearing exercise?

> Lately I've been doing 18/6 just on weekdays. I still would like to

> lose about another 10 pounds of fat, so I plan to continue the 18/6 on

> weekdays this spring, and maybe indefinitely if necessary to keep my

> weight stable.

Seems to me you might need to tweak your exercise at this point to get

those last few pounds off as fat (rather than lean body mass). Ever

done any tabata exercises using only your body weight? 8 rounds for 20

seconds with a 10 second rest between each exercise. I did some body

weight squats like this when I was snowed in for a few days and boy

was I sore!

But you could just as easily do this with sprints at the end of your jog/walk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku-eOGXScOQ & feature=related

> In discussing IF with some of the Flickr NN members, one member said

> she couldn't fast because if she doesn't eat frequently she gets very

> weak and will sometimes faint! So, she didn't think IF was a good

> idea and she's probably right if it leads to fainting

> http://www.flickr.com/photos/stubborndev/3164565749/

Its funny how when people think something is not good for them then it

must not be good for everybody :-) Truth is what she is describing can

be easily overcome but she will probably never be around anyone who is

experienced in fasting and can help her get over the challenge she is

having.

> I don't feel any weakness when I'm in the fast periods. I do get a

> little hungry sometimes, but I've learned to live with it. Getting

> used to the hunger was difficult at first, but it only took about a

> week to get used to it.

Hunger should really go away over time. I'm never hungry during a

fast, not even a longer one. I'm not as familiar with the 18/6

protocol but my guess is the author would say you need to inject some

weight bearing exercise into your routine and thereby be able to eat

more food while still losing fat.

> Skipping dinner gives me more time to do

> other things, which I like.

Oh yeah, one of the great benefits of fasting, which I love.

> I still eat a fairly low carb diet,

> probably about 20 to 30 percent of calories from carbs, and much of

> that is from raw dairy (digested into glucose and galactose, but with

> plenty of fat and protein to slow the digestion). I suspect that

> eating low-carb helps to stabilize blood sugar levels, thus minimizing

> the intensity of hunger and helping to keep up strength during the

> fasting periods.

I suspect you will find lots of people who would disagree with that

statement, and have experienced fasting differently. Fasting alone

will help stabilize blood sugars, and one of the things the author of

EAT STOP EAT, the one to two day a week intermittent fasting protocol,

tries to impress upon his readers is that you no longer have to be

committed to any particular macro-nutrient profile if you are

regularly fasting, at least regarding weight loss (although most of

his readers, like you, seem to add IF to whatever it is they are

already doing).

I also think that the body does yeoman work to maintain homeostasis,

even during fasting, and blood sugar doesn't really drop once you go

through the transition. Nikoley over at freetheanimal.com

actually measured his blood sugar while fasting and found that it was

normal very late into the fast (and he is doing the two day a week

protocol so he is going sometimes 30 hours without food, i.e. about 24

hours in a fasted state). Others have done the same thing with the

same results (regarding blood sugar).

By the way, 's Body Transformation using IF is pretty amazing.

He lost 60 pounds of fat and gained 20 pounds of muscle:

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/09/periodic-photo-progress-update.html

--

" We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever

spent before, and it does not work... I say after eight years of this

administration, we have just as much unemployment as when we started

-- and an enormous debt to boot. "

- Henry Morgenthau (FDR's Treasury Secretary)

[Guest guest]

--- <slethnobotanist@...> wrote:

> Congratulations! That fantastic! You owe me for that tip big time

> <weg>

,

Does that mean I could sue you if I fainted during a fast?

> Do you do any weight bearing exercise?

Not routinely. It's too boring.

> But you could just as easily do this with sprints at the end of

> your jog/walk.

I like interval running during my walk. I run at about 7 to 8 mph for

1 or 2 tenths of a mile then slow to a fast walk and repeat about five

to seven times over my 2.5 mile course. It's funny how in my dreams

at night I can run with no pain, but in real life there's always some

pain with the running at my age.

> Its funny how when people think something is not good for them then

> it must not be good for everybody :-)

Yes, and likewise for the opposite.

> Hunger should really go away over time.

So far that hasn't happened for me, although I have to say the hunger

is now less intense than it was the first month or two.

> I'm not as familiar with the 18/6 protocol

I compromised between the fast 5 and 16/8 that were mentioned here a

while back. I haven't really read up on either one. I basically cut

down from three meals a day to two, cutting out my lightest meal, for

a reduction of about 500 to 800 calories per day.

> > I suspect that eating low-carb helps to stabilize blood sugar

> > levels, thus minimizing the intensity of hunger and helping to

> > keep up strength during the fasting periods.

>

> I suspect you will find lots of people who would disagree with that

> statement, and have experienced fasting differently. Fasting alone

> will help stabilize blood sugars, and one of the things the author

> of EAT STOP EAT, the one to two day a week intermittent fasting

> protocol, tries to impress upon his readers is that you no longer

> have to be committed to any particular macro-nutrient profile if

> you are regularly fasting, at least regarding weight loss (although

> most of his readers, like you, seem to add IF to whatever it is

> they are already doing).

I wouldn't think any amount of fasting would lessen the blood sugar

spike from drinking a 16 oz sugary soda on an empty stomach, but I

haven't seen an studies on it. I also wouldn't expect people on a SAD

diet high in sugar to do well with fasting. And of course there are

also those who I previously mentioned who eat real food but either get

cranky or get weak and pass out if they don't eat regularly.

> I also think that the body does yeoman work to maintain homeostasis,

> even during fasting, and blood sugar doesn't really drop once you go

> through the transition.

It makes sense that blood sugar should be stable well into a fast

regardless of diet macronutrient ratios, but I suspect many people

will have problems early in the fast, around the time of the first

skipped meal. Some may get hypoglycemic and that could explain the

weakness and crankiness that some people report. My guess would be

that diets that are fairly high in sugar might be more prone to

hypoglycemic problems early in a fast.

> By the way, 's Body Transformation using IF is pretty

> amazing. He lost 60 pounds of fat and gained 20 pounds of muscle:

>

http://www.freetheanimal.com/root/2008/09/periodic-photo-progress-update.html

Yes, I've seen his web site before. He's doing well on losing weight.

I also just read what Dr Eades has to say about losing weight as you

get older:

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/low-carb-diets/why-is-low-carb-harder-the-sec\

ond-time-around/

=============================================================

All the studies aren't in yet on this issue for sure. But, those that

are (both animal and human studies) indicate that we become

progressively more insulin and leptin resistant as we age. This is

especially true for people who have become overweight or obese and

have maintained that state. Sadly, it is also true for those who

became overweight or obese and lost the excess weight, which is most

of us. The more insulin and leptin resistance we are, the more

difficult it is to lose weight. So, the increase in this phenomenon

just from the years passing between the first go round and the second

on a low-carb diet makes it a little more difficult the next time.

=============================================================

So, if you're young and at a good weight, keep it there

[Guest guest]

--- In , <slethnobotanist@...>

wrote:

....However

> while I don't like push ups, give me a push up board and I'm good to

> go...

Wait...what? You have a push-up board? Where'd you get it? build it

yourself? pushupboard.com?

I suspect you throw out these teasers from time to time to lure me

from retirement.

tb